Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Choranche Cave, also known as the Coufin-Chevalin Cave, is located in the Vercors Regional Natural Park, at the foot of the cliffs of Presles, in the gorges of the Bourne. Accessible from Grenoble via the A49 motorway or local roads, it is marked by an impressive natural circus. In 2014, she won the "Tourism Quality" brand, highlighting her heritage and tourism importance.

The formation of caves results from karst erosion, with fossil galleries overtaking active networks through the underground river Serpentine. It feeds gours, an underground lake, and a waterfall emerges in the Circus of Choranche. The cave also houses remarkable speleothema, including calcite fistulauses up to 3 meters long.

Speleological exploration marked the history of the site. In 1897, Oscar Decombaz explored the Coufin cave until the wetting vault, defused in 1949 by Roger Pénelon and Louis Sage, allowing access to the Gruyère. In 1943, Pénelon, Bourgin, Sage and Gaché reached the Cathedral in the Chevaline cave. The junction between the two cavities was made in 1966 by speleos clubs, revealing a network of 32,301 meters in 2009.

The cave plays a unique ecological role in sheltering the Anguillard protee, a blind salamander from the Balkans, introduced as part of a conservation project. This site, along with 23 other caves in southern France, was proposed in 1999 for UNESCO World Heritage Registration, before being withdrawn in 2007 after an unfavorable IUCN opinion.

The caves grow in Urgonian limestones, with active networks in contact with high-rise marnes. Their study has been the subject of scientific publications such as Lignier (2012) on sediment dynamics or Oyhançabal (2003) on karst diffluence.

Finally, the site is a major place for French speleology, documented by videos and specialized books, such as Sports Speleo in Vercors (Cailault et al., 1997). Its access and preservation make it a scientific, tourist and environmental issue.

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